Typical examples of compounds having an antitumor activity include mitomycin C, adriamycin, vincristine, and the like, all of which are clinically useful as anticancer agents. However, since each of the compounds also has adverse effects such as myelotoxicity, cardiotoxicity, nerve damage, etc., a novel anticancer agent having less adverse effects is demanded. Further, an excellent immunosuppresive agent and a therapeutic agent for an autoimmune disease having reduced adverse effects are always demanded.
Chalcone derivatives are known as having the activity to inhibit polymerization of tubulin Journal of the Medicinal Chemistry (J. Med. Chem.), 33, 1948 (1990) and Journal of Natural Products (J. Nat. Prod.), 56, 1718 (1993)!. Chalcone derivatives are also known as having an anticancer activity, being useful as a therapeutic agent for gout, and being useful as a therapeutic agent for multiple sclerosis (U. S. Pat. Nos. 4,904,697, 4,863,968, and 4,753,965, respectively). 3-Indolyl-1-phenyl-2-propen-1-one derivatives are known as inhibiting the tyrosine-phospholylation of cell growth factor receptor Cancer Research (Cancer Res.), 54, 6106 (1994) and WO 91/16305!, being useful as an organic nonlinear optical material (Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. 255426/91), and having an antiallergic activity Khim.-Farm. Zh., 25, 18 (1991)!.
Further, 3-(indol-3-yl)-1-phenyl-2-propen-1-one derivatives are disclosed in French Patent No. 2230349, Khim. Geterotsikl. Soedin, 1066 (1970), Khim. Geterotsikl. Soedin, 268 (1969), Khim. Geterotsikl. Soedin, 399 (1970), Farmaco Ed. Sci., 26, 591 (1971), etc.